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Five Madera County Jail inmates escaped from that facility last week; since that time many have started to question how secure California jails really are.

The men were only out of custody briefly, according to sources within the sheriff's department, but that's not to say that more can't be done to make sure this doesn't happen again.

One County Supervisor said he's requested ongoing progress reports from those are investigating how the escape took place.

Initial reports indicate the men may have chipped away a bar on an old window.  From there, they slipped through and dug a tunnel through a nearby war.  Authorities believe it took quite a bit of time to complete that project which means the inmates managed to hide their escape plan from the guards.

The sheriff's department has said they can't confirm or deny how the men broke out for the safety of staff members.

What has been confirmed is that the incident took place in the older part of the jail; it didn't happen in areas of the recent expansion.

Sources within the County Board of Supervisors say they are relieve that the inmates didn't escape from the upgraded portion of the Madera lockup.

Four of the escapees were captured less than 24-hours after they made a run for it.  The fifth was brought back into custody a day later.

Representatives from the Madera County Jail said there is no reason for the public to feel unsafe.  The incident is being fully investigated from a criminal and internal perspective, they said.